By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent

ROCHESTER, Ind. — Rich Norman proved he’s a hit-n-miss cook by preparing his lunch while demonstrating his Massey Harris hit-n-miss engines at the recent Fulton County Historical Power Show.
At first glance, the Akron collector’s engines looked like the other 40-50 machines huffing, chuffing and whishing, flywheels spinning while serving no apparent purpose. Closer examination, however, revealed a use the Canadian company never dreamed of: Eggs simmering in a tin can full of water atop a 1930 1.5-hp engine’s lone cylinder and hot dogs steaming on the cylinder of a 1924 6-hp engine.

“No sense wasting that heat,” Norman said. He pointed out that water surrounded the can in which the eggs cooked, but didn’t touch his plastic pouch of hot dogs.

“The guy who showed me how to do this liked to cook his eggs for about 45 minutes,” he said, “but I don’t like them that runny. I cook them a full two hours. They’re just about perfect, then.”
As for the hot dogs, he allows about 45 minutes. “The smaller engine heats faster,” he explained. “That’s why I use it for the eggs.” He knows he could cook potatoes in a similar fashion but doesn’t often attempt that feat.

The hit-n-miss engine dates back to the era before rural America had electricity. “They were godsends for farmers and their wives,” Norman’s father, Oren, said. “I remember seeing them used to pump well water, to operate small elevators and, sometimes, to power small light plants. My mother had one attached to her washing machine with an exhaust hose to take the fumes out of the house.”

Another Akron resident, Dick Rader, recalled seeing a neighbor use a hit-n-miss engine to power a burr mill. “They were all the rage back before we had lights,” he said.

Nowadays, thanks to collectors like Rich Norman, they’ve become all the rage again. Swapping and trading on the Web have become a favored means of exchange, and events such as the power show have become meeting places where collectors outline their needs.
Norman’s desire is to locate an easy way to move a Maytag washer that came equipped with a one-cylinder engine. “That thing is awfully heavy,” he said. “There must be an easier way to move it.”